Tag Archive for: microfiction

On the House

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by Colleen Anderson

 

Jordan hated everything; wife left him for goddam grooming parlor, boss said he wasn’t meeting his quota.

He’d show them quota. He stormed into a bar, each person’s face hidden in the sins of their past.

 “Keep ‘em coming,” he ordered, slapping down his credit card. He would join the sinners.

The bartender snorted. “One rule. Don’t pass out. Never pass out!”

Jordan flooded his pain with whiskey shots and beer; then someone with too white a grin bought more.

Severe abdominal pain woke him. Straps restrained him, tubes leading to the bar.

The bartender smiled. “You’re on the house.”

 

Colleen Anderson

Colleen Anderson’s new and forthcoming fiction and poetry are in The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias, By the Light of Camelot, Canadian Dreadful, Tesseracts 22 and others. In 2018, I edited the Alice Unbound: Beyond Wonderland anthology, and a collection of my dark fiction, A Body of Work, was published by Black Shuck Books (UK). www.colleenanderson.wordpress.com.

 

The 97-Year-Old Science-Fiction Writer’s Untimely Time-Machine Computer

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by J. J. Steinfeld

 

The 97-year-old science-fiction writer began to type the final paragraph of his latest novel. In mid-sentence, a distinguished-looking gentleman appeared on the computer-monitor, replacing text.

“What the hell?” the writer growled.

“Greetings,” the monitor-gentleman replied.

“Who are you?”

“Herbert.”

“I don’t know any damn Herbert.”

“I travelled all this way to help.”

“Get lost!”

“I know about these things.”

“What things?”

“Time travel and writing…”

With his last breaths, the writer fought to get the intruder off his computer-monitor. H.G. Wells shook his head mournfully, saying he should have arrived earlier, but had been having trouble mastering electronic time-travel.

First published in Drabble Harvest #7

 

J. J. Steinfeld

Canadian fiction writer/poet/playwright J. J. Steinfeld lives on Prince Edward Island, where he is patiently waiting for Godot’s arrival and a phone call from Kafka. While waiting, he has published 19 books, including Madhouses in Heaven, Castles in Hell (Stories, Ekstasis Editions, 2015), An Unauthorized Biography of Being (Stories, Ekstasis Editions, 2016), Absurdity, Woe Is Me, Glory Be (Poetry, Guernica Editions, 2017), and A Visit to the Kafka Café (Poetry, Ekstasis Editions, 2018). His stories and poems have appeared in numerous anthologies and periodicals internationally, and over 50 of his one-act plays and a handful of full-length plays have been performed in North America.

 

Protected Class

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by Adam S. Furman

 

To the citizens and subjects of the Interplanetary Commonwealth:

Because of the abundance of knowledge about the human mind and great strides made in the understandings thereof, the Ministry of Offense has decided to update its Offense Code.  It does hereby recognize individuals identified as IQ-fluid as a protected class.  Any discrimination or harassment of an individual that displays any so-called insufficient knowledge, including but not limited to grammar, spelling, or comprehension, will be met with the same punishment as petty theft under £500.

This decree is effective at the moment your transmission is received.

Regards,

Minster of a Fence

 

Adam S. Furman

Adam S. Furman lives in rural Illinois with his family which includes a lot of kids (like…a lot). He generally writes science fiction.

Readers can connect with him on twitter @AdamSFurman.

 

Nodes and Modes

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by Beth W. Patterson

 

There was no sound in space, but she felt the music of the spheres with her whole body.

The starship had been programmed with pre-recorded songs to break the tedium. But she pined for live music, even more than she missed green grass beneath her feet, a crisp breeze, or sunlight.

And now looking at this newly discovered solar system, she observed planets in orbit forming intervals and chords as they passed one another. She saw harmony in relativity and motion.

How to begin the song? It will be in the key of whatever world she chooses to land on.

 

Beth W. Patterson

Beth W. Patterson was a full-time musician for over two decades before diving into the world of writing, a process she describes as “fleeing the circus to join the zoo”. She is the author of the books Mongrels and Misfits, and The Wild Harmonic, and a contributing writer to twenty anthologies.

Patterson has performed in eighteen countries, expanding her perspective as she goes. Her playing appears on over a hundred and sixty albums, soundtracks, videos, commercials, and voice-overs (including seven solo albums of her own).  

She lives in New Orleans, Louisiana with her husband Josh Paxton, jazz pianist extraordinaire.

 

A Breath So Sweet

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by Stephen Coghlan

 

Oh, The Horror!

I must escape!

I must flee!

But sanctuary is so impossibly far.

I gag!

I gasp!

I weep!

It is brimstone, It is cadavers, It is lethal gasses and deadly pollutants.

Hands claw at my throat, tear at my mask to no avail.

Can I not travel faster?

The airlock grows so slowly through the mist.

It burns, I blink away the pain, but my eyes refuse to focus.

There, numb fingers open the hatch, I crawl inside.

Watch the light.

Wait for it to turn green.

Rip off my helmet.

.

.

.

Advice: Never fart in your spacesuit.

 

Stephen Coghlan

Stephen Coghlan is an ever-expanding, multi-genre author who writes out of Canada’s National Capital.

His works include the Genmos series and the Dreampunk novella, URBAN GOTHIC.

If you like Stephen’s work, you can find him on Twitter as @WordsBySC or check out his website at scoghlan.com.